"Alone?" Abby said worriedly.

  "Mom. I'm meeting a bunch of the girls. I'm taking Lady with me." She was only lying a little. She was going to a heavily populated section of town with a very big dog. She'd be okay.

  "Jennifer, I don't know...," Abby said.

  Drew gave her a sympathetic look. "Abby, Lady is one big dog."

  "I'll be okay," Jennifer said firmly. She flashed Drew a smile of gratitude and took a scone. It was delicious, a raisin scone with cinnamon. She was glad she stopped to eat. Mary's tea was delicious as well, brewed with leaves to a perfect point, strained, and served in her mother's delicate little teacups. "Mary makes the best tea," she said.

  "Don't let Edgar hear you say that," Drew warned.

  "I won't, I promise you," she said, and laughed.

  "Have another scone," her mother suggested.

  "Mom, I'm meeting people at a cafe for something to eat," she reminded Abby.

  "All right. But, Jennifer, when you get back, may I talk with you for a few minutes?"

  "Of course, Mom. What is it?"

  "When you get back."

  Did Abby want to talk to her alone, without Drew present? She would have pushed it now, except for that fact. She didn't want to make waves. Abby looked good. Really good, better than she had looked in days. She wasn't shaking with any of her violent tremors.

  "Of course, Mom."

  "Don't be long, please."

  "I promise. I won't be."

  "Take your cellular phone."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  She kissed her mother and Drew and went to the coat tree in the den where the dog's leashes were hung. When she came back for Lady, Ripper was suddenly all over her, barking and distressed.

  "I can't take you, too," she told the little Yorkie, scratching his ears and setting him down firmly. He jumped at her again, barking wildly.

  "Ripper!"

  "I'll get him," Drew offered.

  "Thanks."

  He came for the Yorkie, but when he picked him up, the dog tried to snap.

  "Ripper!" Jennifer admonished. The little dog hung his head, but then started barking again.

  "He'll be okay when you're gone," Drew assured her.

  "I'll take him, Drew," Abby called. "He does well with me."

  For once Jennifer was glad that Conar's dog liked her mother. She needed to get going.

  With Lady on her leash and her cell phone thrown into the car, Jennifer started back down toward Sunset.

  Traffic was terrible, and it took her far longer than she had expected. She had to park her car much farther from the restaurant than she wanted, but she left it on a side street and felt confident walking with Lady back toward the restaurant.

  It was closer to seven than six. She hoped Lila Gonzalez had waited.

  With Lady, she stood outside the cafe, watching anxiously for a young woman who might be Lila. Finally, a waiter approached her.

  "Miss Connolly?"

  "Yes?"

  "Miss Gonzalez is waiting for you inside. I'm afraid the dog isn't allowed in."

  "Can we have a table outside?"

  The young man shrugged, then said, grinning, "Miss Connolly, believe it or not, I watch Valentine Valley. I'd love to get you a table out here. Quickly. But all these people just sat. And my boss is big on no favorites for television and film people, or we'd have pissed-off clientele all the time. Inside is all we've got. We barely have that. Miss Gonzalez has been sitting there for a while now as it is."

  Jennifer hesitated, then felt like a paranoid fool. She wouldn't be staying long. "Please tell her I'll be right back. I've got to put the dog in the car."

  "Sure thing. Make sure you roll your windows down, huh?"

  "Of course."

  "Sorry, Lady," she told her wolfhound.

  She walked back to the car. It was slightly uphill. She realized that she had parked past another vacant lot, and then a condemned house.

  "And they say property is so expensive down here," she muttered to the dog. "They need to make better use of it."

  She slid back into her car and rolled the windows partially down. "You protect the home front, eh, Lady?"

  The dog whimpered.

  She locked Lady in the car with plenty of air in the cool night, and hurried the few blocks back to the restaurant. The young waiter had just delivered two glasses of wine to an outside table, and he quickly motioned to her, escorting her inside to a table at the rear of the restaurant.

  The woman sitting at the table was very attractive. She had long, sleek ash blond hair, large brown eyes, and nearly perfect skin. As she stood up, Jennifer saw she was tall and slim and handsomely dressed in a business suit. "Hi," she said, flashing a quick smile of thanks to the waiter. "I'm Lila Gonzalez."

  "Jennifer Connolly, and I'm so sorry for being so late. It took me longer to get here than I expected."

  "It's all right. I'm glad I've been drinking decaf cappuccinos, but it's all right," Lila said, smiling again. "I really wanted to talk to you."

  Jennifer sat down.

  "What will you have?"

  "The same," she said.

  "How about an appetizer platter, too?" Lila said. Leaning forward, she added, "I've been taking this table a rather long time."

  "An appetizer platter sounds great," Jennifer said.

  The waiter left them.

  "So you were friends with both Brenda and Trish.. .the girl I found last night," Jennifer said.

  Lila nodded. "L.A., the whole scene out here is huge. But then again, it's very small. Brenda kind of crawled above the pack, but I met both her and Trish because we'd go to lots of the same auditions and parties, you know."

  "It's a small world."

  Lila grinned. "With a pecking order—films, TV, what have you, but still, lots of the players go round and round, and you get to meet them time and again."

  "I'm so sorry that you lost two friends in such a horrible way. I knew Brenda, not well, but I knew her. Trish I had never met."

  "They were both good people."

  "I'm sure," Jennifer said, then hesitated. "I'm still not sure why you were so anxious to meet with me."

  "You're moving in their world, Jennifer."

  "What do you mean?"

  Lila moved forward with a pained expression. "I read in one of the papers that Hugh Tanenbaum was trying to cast you in his movie."

  "There's been some talk, that's all."

  "Brenda was supposed to take a role as well. And Lila had told me that she was going to try to meet Tanenbaum. She thought appearing in one of his movies would be good for her career."

  The irony of Lila's tone was not lost on Jennifer.

  "You're suggesting that Hugh Tanenbaum—"

  "No, I'm not saying that he's a psycho killer."

  "Then—"

  "I'm just saying it's a strange coincidence. But there are other coincidences you should know about—regarding the people in your world."

  "Such as...?"

  Lila didn't reply. She sat back as the waiter delivered Jennifer's cappuccino and an appetizer tray for the two of them.

  He left.

  "Brenda was a free spirit, you know."

  Jennifer frowned, trying to follow the drift of what Lila was implying. Lila sighed. "She slept around."

  "Oh, yes."

  "She slept with lots of your friends and coworkers. She had quite a thing for a while with Joe Penny—and Andy Larkin. She caused a fight between them once, and thought it was incredibly amusing—and just. If they wanted to use a Hollywood casting couch, she told me once, they should pay a price for it as well."

  "I knew she slept with a number of people. What about your friend Trish?"

  "We'll get to Trish," Lila said, spearing a crab-stuffed mushroom cap with a pirate flag toothpick and moving it onto the small appetizer plate in front of her. "Brenda also slept with your director, Jim Novac, and even Jay Braden—just to finish it all out. She'd wanted a part on the show once, and apparently, Andy Larkin told her there was just no real way to write her in."

  "I didn't know that."

  "I didn't think that you did."

  "But still—"

  "Then...there's Conar Markham."

  "I knew that Conar—"

  "Brenda had been really good friends with his wife, Betty Lou. You know, they were both beautiful Hispanic girls making it in Hollywood—a really upward climb, I can tell you."

  "I was aware of that friendship."

  Lila nodded, looking at her. "Trish was in a movie he did a few years ago. So he was friends with her as well, did you know that?"

  She felt cold; she didn't want to give the uneasiness away. Last night he said he'd never seen the girl before.

  "Really?" she said smoothly. "Well, that was a few years ago."

  It was true, and the poor woman looked so horrible, her own mother might not have recognized her.

  "Yes, so your Mr. Markham knew Trish, just as he knew Brenda. Trish was also interviewed for that space movie being filmed now—the one they tried to get Conar for as the main star."

  "That's interesting, but it's unlikely that they were interviewed together."

  "Oh, yes," Lila said, sitting back again, watching Jennifer. "Trish told me that she saw him at a get-together the director had in New York. She liked him, you see. She liked him a lot."

  "You're going to tell me that she slept with him?" Jennifer said.

  Lila looked down at the table for a moment, then back at Jennifer. "I don't know. When Trish came back from New York, she talked about little else other than how kind and generous he had been during her audition. But she didn't get the part. And apparently, Conar chose not to take a part in the movie either, since he's here now. And Brenda is dead—and Trish is dead."

  "If sleeping with people in Hollywood made people murderers, the majority of the town would be doing life," Jennifer reminded her.

  "Hey, I'm not accusing anybody of anything. I just wanted you to be forewarned and forearmed about some of the things going on around you. When I saw the news about Trish this morning... and saw that you were the one who had found her, and with Conar Markham...well, I wanted a chance to talk to you. Hell, these murders may not have anything to do with one another. I just thought that I should warn you to look out for yourself."

  Lila was sincere.

  Jennifer nodded. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

  Lila lifted her hand for the check. "I've got to get moving. I have a job as a singing waitress."

  "I'd love to see you some time."

  "I'd like that. I'm good, honestly. I have a pretty darned good voice. Let me know if you want to come, the place is right in downtown Hollywood. Angelo's. Give me a call, let me know. I'm listed."

  The waiter brought the check.

  Jennifer reached for it; Lila snagged it.

  "Really, let me—" Jennifer began.

  "Singing waitresses make good money, believe it or not," Lila told her. "I brought you down here, please, let me."

  With little choice, Jennifer thanked her.

  "You're gracious as well," Lila told her as they stepped out to the front. Ironically, most of the outside tables were now empty. "Keep care of yourself, huh?"

  "You, too."

  "Want a lift somewhere?"

  "No, thanks. My car is right up the hill there."

  Lila nodded and started down the block. She stepped into an old BMW, waving as she did so. Jennifer turned thoughtfully to start walking toward her car.

  It wasn't far; she could see it right up the hill. But as she started walking, she realized that it was dark now.

  There were plenty of streetlights in front of the restaurant, but it was dark up the hill.

  It was okay. Lady was in the car.

  The sounds of voices on the street faded behind her. She could hear her own footsteps on the sidewalk. The vacant lot loomed like a black void to her right. Just beyond it stood the condemned building. When she had parked and there had still been some daylight around her, the building had just seemed a sad reminder of the ravages of time. But the light was gone. In the darkness, the building appeared evil.

  Goose! she chastised herself. Her imagination was getting out of control. She had insisted that she was going to have a life, be normal. And still, she couldn't help these fantasies.

  Walk! she told herself. More quickly, please!

  If she listened closely enough, she thought, she would hear the old, crumbling building breathing. It was alive with evil and malice. Any minute now, there would suddenly be an eerie glow from within, and the windows would turn to eyes...

  "Idiot! Lady is in the car; I'm nearly there," she told herself.

  Nearly.

  "Oh, hell!"

  She stared to run for her car.

  Running was the wrong thing to do. Staring suspiciously at the condemned building, she missed a crack in the sidewalk. Her heel caught and she went tumbling down. Smacking the concrete hard, ripping a stocking and skinning a knee, she swore at herself. "Your mother told you, Conar told you, Lila told you, everyone told you to be careful," she muttered to herself. "They've turned you into a silly paranoid! Get up and act normal," she admonished herself.

  She started to crawl to her feet, slipping her handbag over her shoulder.

  As she did so, she heard footsteps.

  She turned back. The restaurant and the street below seemed very far away. But she didn't see anything, or anyone. She turned and started walking briskly.

  Footsteps, running now.

  She spun around.

  Nothing.

  She looked toward the car again. A giant shadow seemed to be emerging from the empty yard.

  She reached into her purse. Where the hell were her keys? She should have gotten them out before she left the restaurant. She did have a very loud car alarm, if she could just hit the PANIC button on her little square beeper thingy.

  From her car, Lady suddenly began to bark madly.

  She needed to clean out her purse. Where was the damned pepper spray? Was it still good?

  "Shit!" she swore. She had to go back down to the restaurant...

  She felt prickles at the nape of her neck.

  She turned around and screamed.

  The footsteps had reached her. A shadow now loomed large and real and lethal, right in front of her.

  Chapter 14

  From the minute he learned that Jennifer had gone on home without him, Conar had been uneasy.

  He was scrubbing his face in his dressing room when Doug arrived to tell him he was giving him a ride; Jennifer was gone.

  "What?" he demanded harshly, straightening, bumping his forehead on the faucets, and swearing as he reached for a towel. It was amazing how things changed. When he had come here, he had been convinced that Abby was overly alarmed, the victim of a prankster.

  And now...

  "Hey, don't jump down my throat!" Doug protested, handing him the elusive towel and stepping back.

  Conar ignored him and dialed the house. Edgar answered. "Granger House."

  "Edgar, it's Conar. Is Jennifer home?"

  "I just returned myself, sir. Let me check."

  Seconds passed like eons. Edgar came back on the phone. "She went out, sir."

  "She went out!"

  "Miss Abby says it's fine, sir. She took Lady with her."

  "Edgar, where did she go? Please, ask Abby for me. Where did she go?"

  Edgar came back a few minutes later. "Abby had a great day, sir, and forgot to take her medicine, and now, I fear, she's taken too many pills together. She isn't very lucid. But Jennifer went to the Flamingo Cafe to meet with the girls."

  "The girls? What girls?"

  "Well, her friends from the soap, I imagine," Edgar said. "Sir, if I had been here, I would have tried to stop her—"

  "Edgar, don't worry, it's not your fault. Where is the Flamingo Cafe?"

  "Not far from the music store and that bookstore she likes so much, do you know the one, Mr. Markham? Near House of Blues."

  "Thanks, Edgar."

  He hung up. "Doug, let's go."

  He gave tense directions. Doug kept telling him he was certain that Jennifer was fine—she was with her dog, after all.

  Yet they didn't find Jennifer's car in front of the cafe. "Shit, well, she's near here somewhere," Conar said.

  "Look!" Doug breathed suddenly.

  "What?"

  "Up that side street. Oh, my God, in front of that building...is that a body?"

  Conar looked where Doug was pointing. A piece of canvas was haphazardly pulled over something larger. Conar started to walk toward the old place.

  Doug caught his arm. "Don't! Let's not look, all right?"

  "Doug, damn it." Conar pulled his arm free, his heart in his throat. He hurried across the overgrown yard to the front of the decaying building. He jerked up the tarp, stepping back. He nearly stepped on Doug.

  "It's a pile of rotten wood," he said.

  "Oh, Jesus," Doug breathed. Then he said, "Thank God, look there, someone's coming."

  Conar looked out from the building and down the hill. It was Jennifer, heading up the hill at a run. He saw her fall, and swear.

  "Damn her," he muttered. He started from the building toward her.

  As he did so, he saw a shape dart out from the empty lot.

  "Look!" Doug warned him.

  "I see."

  But Jennifer had turned. And the shape had risen. And the shape was a man with something in his hand, ready to strike out.

  "No!" Conar yelled. The sound was a rush of rage and fear in his own ears.

  Jennifer was quick—she ducked into the overgrown grass of the vacant lot to avoid her attacker. Despite the noise Conar had made, the attacker still was unaware that Conar was coming after him. The man turned toward Jennifer, striking out. She rolled. Conar plunged at the man's legs.

  He brought the man down hard, knocking the wind out of both of them.

  The fellow fought him, struggling, jerking. Conar managed to hit the attacker hard in the jaw. The man tried to strike him with the weapon in his right hand.

 

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